"What the hell are you doing here?"

The Dwarven King showed a pained look on his face. "Wow… really? And here I thought you would appreciate me coming all the way over here."

Chief Klaus felt all the anger on his body drain and be replaced by a sense of exhaustion. Dealing with this guy made his head hurt, not in the normal sense, but in memory. The hangovers he had after drinking with this Dwarf was almost as painful as his crippled leg.

"Can't I just visit an old friend?"

"Of course not! You're the Dwarven King!"

He was supposed to be ruling the most secluded kingdom in all the world! He shouldn't be prancing around like any other person. Didn't he know how much trouble he would cause in New Sparta because of his appearance?!

He didn't even know how this guy wasn't being crowded by opportunistic busy bodies all the time! One of the most sought-after materials was Damascus Steel and he was the only one who could supply them.

Suffice it to say, even someone on the lowest totem pole of New Sparta would suddenly rise to the very top if they somehow caught an alliance with the Dwarves. That was how valuable the Dwarves were—how valuable their King was.

And now, he just showed himself here with no warning, and seemingly no guards around him.

"No, really. What did you come here for?" Chief Klaus asked sternly. There must have been an incredibly deep and serious reason as to why the Dwarven King left his kingdom.

Biru shrugged. "Nothing. Just wanted to catch up with you, really: maybe crack a couple of cold ones like old times."

Chief Klaus was utterly confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Drinking!"

"Are you seriously saying that you're breaking thousands of years of Dwarven tradition just to drink alcohol with me?"

The Dwarven King laughed heartily. "HAHAHAHA! You may be a good friend of mine, but you're not that important. No, that tradition has been broken long before this."

"WHAT?!"

Biru nodded and invited himself to the Chief's quarters. "Yup, yup. A lot has changed after your last visit."

In truth, Chief Klaus had been a good friend of the Dwarves for a long time. Before the 'incident' where he lost his left leg, the Goldblood Chief was quite the roamer throughout the world. And one of his frequent stops was the Dwarven Kingdom, where he bonded with Biru through a mutual love of drinking.

In fact, the very reason why the Dwarven Kingdom could even afford to buy Michael's phones was due to Chief Klaus. He was purchasing Damascus Steel from them in exchange for Sand Dollars.

It was a beneficial exchange for both groups. The Dwarven Kingdom had purchasing power, while the Goldbloods had an edge over the competition thanks to the Damascus Steel provided by Biru.

"I was waiting for you to visit after I heard about the great migration. But you didn't come, so I had to come see you for myself."

Biru tried to take a seat, but found all the chairs broken into splinters.

Meanwhile, Klaus remained silent. His hands subconsciously scratched his atrophied leg.

"Why didn't you come?" Biru asked again, sweeping the floor as he took a seat.

The Goldblood Chief didn't answer.

"If you had, then you would have seen the amazing change in our kingdom. We have electricity now! Oh, beer! You should try that too. And a train! It goes all the way from the Parched Lands, to Kingsbridge Town, and to our kingdom!"

Klaus shook his head, overwhelmed with all of those new terms. "What? Kingsbridge… isn't that a human settlement?"

"Yeah? So?" Biru asked, as if that was a nonsensical question.

"So?! No human is allowed in your kingdom!"

Biru finally remembered and chuckled. He'd been so used to his comfortable life now that he completely forgot about that dark time when they shunned everyone.

"Right well, as I told you, a lot has changed. Anyone can enter the Dwarven Kingdom now…Don't look so surprised."

Chief Klaus had to sit down on the ground. "A lot is an understatement. How did this even happen?"

"It's a long story, but all you need to know is that a human called Michael helped us Dwarves realize that life would be better if we opened our borders. And our alliance with the Reborn company has only benefited us ever since.

But what about you? You seem to be in dire need of a drink," Biru said, picking up the splinters of a wrecked wooden chair.

"Yeah, actually. I'm… having trouble with a decision right now."

The Dwarven King smiled before rummaging through his thick brown braided beard and taking out two glass bottles of Rebornian Beer. "Lucky for you, I have just the thing."

…

…

…

Chief Klaus' eyes widened as he savored the flavor of beer. It perfectly quenched his desire for numbing the pain in his leg, especially after talking about it with Biru.

"So, this Faux-Stil company wants to ally with you, and you think that they're suspicious… but you still want to accept it?"

Biru burped before punching a knuckle on the Goldblood Chief's head.

"You idiot."

Klaus grumbled like a dog at him.

"You're letting your bitter and angry feud with your brother get in the way of your thinking."

"Never do that again."

"I will if you keep being stupid. You're willing to risk your own tribe just to destroy your brother? Can't you just bury the hatchet?"

Chief Klaus massaged his leg. "No. Never. His betrayal can only be resolved through his death."

Biru groaned as he got up and stretched his body. "As your friend, I'm going to do you a favor. Come outside."

Klaus frowned. "What for?"

"You need to get your feet moving so that you can disperse all that negative energy in your body. Lucky for you, I got the best remedy."

Biru opened the door and looked back at his friend. "I'll show you how to play baseball."

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